{"id":2723,"date":"2022-05-12T16:01:39","date_gmt":"2022-05-12T16:01:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.inthedays.com\/?p=2723"},"modified":"2022-05-12T16:10:28","modified_gmt":"2022-05-12T16:10:28","slug":"bostons-refusal-to-allow-the-christian-flag-to-fly-is-unconstitutional-unanimous-supreme-court-finds","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.inthedays.com\/?p=2723","title":{"rendered":"BOSTON\u2019S REFUSAL TO ALLOW THE CHRISTIAN FLAG TO FLY IS UNCONSTITUTIONAL, UNANIMOUS SUPREME COURT FINDS"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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Hated For His Names Sake<\/div>\n
\"Marvel not, my brethren, if the\n\n
world STONG\u2019S NUMBER:2889 <\/font>kosmos, kos\u00b4-mos; probably from the base of 2865; orderly arrangement, i.e. decoration; by implication, the world (in a wide or narrow sense, including its inhabitants, literally or figuratively (morally)): \u2014 adorning, world.<\/span><\/div> hate you. We know that we have passed from death unto life, because we love the brethren. He that loveth not his brother abideth in death.\"\n\n \u2014 1John 3:13<\/blockquote><\/div>\n\n
Iniquity Shall Abound<\/div>\n
\u201dAnd because\n
iniquity Strongs 458: <\/font> anomia, an-om-ee\u00b4-ah; from 459; illegality, i.e. violation of law or (genitive case) wickedness: \u2014 iniquity, x transgress(-ion of) the law, unrighteousness.<\/span><\/div> shall abound, the\n\n
love Strongs 26: <\/font> agape, ag-ah\u00b4-pay; from 25; love, i.e. affection or benevolence; specially (plural) a love-feast: \u2014 (feast of) charity(-ably), dear, love.<\/span><\/div> of many shall wax cold.\"\n\n \u2014 Matthew 24:12<\/blockquote><\/strong><\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t
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<\/strong><\/p>\n

Article Source:<\/span>\u00a0\u00a0<\/a><\/span>The Epoch Times<\/span><\/b><\/div>\n

The Supreme Court ruled unanimously on May 2 that\u00a0Boston\u2019s decision to allow national flags and flags about historic events, causes, and organizations to fly outside its city hall while refusing to raise a Christian flag is an unconstitutional example of government censorship.<\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/strong><\/p>\n

The court\u2019s opinion in the case, Shurtleff v. Boston,\u00a0court file 20-1800, was written by outgoing Justice Stephen Breyer, 83, who is expected to retire and will be replaced by Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson when the court\u2019s current term ends. Oral arguments in the case, an appeal from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 1st Circuit, came on Jan. 18.<\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/strong><\/p>\n

Justices Brett Kavanaugh, Samuel Alito, and Neil Gorsuch each filed a separate opinion concurring in the judgment of the court.<\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/strong><\/p>\n

Mat Staver, founder, and chairman of public interest law firm Liberty Counsel weighed in on the court\u2019s latest opinion.<\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cThis 9-0 decision from the Supreme Court strikes a victory for private speech in a public forum,\u201d said Staver, who represented the petitioners in oral arguments.<\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cThis case is so much more significant than a flag. Boston openly discriminated against viewpoints it disfavored when it opened the flagpoles to all applicants and then excluded Christian viewpoints. Government cannot censor religious viewpoints under the guise of government speech,\u201d he said in a statement provided to The Epoch Times.<\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/strong><\/p>\n

Petitioner Harold Shurtleff runs Camp Constitution, which offers classes and workshops on U.S. history and the Constitution. Camp Constitution, also a petitioner, was formed \u201cto enhance understanding of the country\u2019s Judeo-Christian heritage, the American heritage of courage and ingenuity, the genius of the United States Constitution, and free enterprise,\u201d according to the\u00a0petition\u00a0filed with the court.<\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/strong><\/p>\n

Three flagpoles adorn Boston City Hall\u2019s entrance. Atop one flies the U.S. flag, and below it is a flag honoring missing soldiers and prisoners of war. The Massachusetts flag is on a second flagpole. A third flagpole usually flies Boston\u2019s flag, but sometimes flags are hoisted to honor or commemorate causes, individuals, historic events, and foreign countries such as the People\u2019s Republic of China or Turkey. Sometimes, the tertiary staff hosts flag about military battles, victims of crime, or the LGBT community.<\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/strong><\/p>\n

But in 2017, Boston refused to let Camp Constitution display a flag bearing a Christian cross, claiming it would be a constitutionally impermissible endorsement of Christianity by the city. The petition states that Boston official Gregory Rooney told the group the city \u201cmaintains a policy and practice of respectfully refraining from flying non-secular flags.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/strong><\/p>\n

Rooney said the policy was created out of concern for \u201cthe so-called separation of church and state or the Constitution\u2019s establishment clause.\u201d He worried that the Camp Constitution flag \u201cwas promoting a specific religion\u201d and \u201cdidn\u2019t think that it was in the city\u2019s best interest to necessarily have that flag flying above City Hall.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/strong><\/p>\n

In the high court\u2019s opinion, Breyer wrote that when the government \u201cencourages diverse expression\u2014say, by creating a forum for debate\u2014the First Amendment prevents it from discriminating against speakers based on their viewpoint.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cBut when the government speaks for itself, the First Amendment does not demand airtime for all views.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cThe line between a forum for private expression and the government\u2019s own speech is important, but not always clear. This case concerns a flagpole outside Boston City Hall. For years, Boston has allowed private groups to request the use of the flagpole to raise flags of their choosing. As part of this program, Boston approved hundreds of requests to raise dozens of different flags. The city did not deny a single request to raise a flag until, in 2017, Harold Shurtleff, the director of a group called Camp Constitution, asked to fly a Christian flag. Boston refused.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/strong><\/p>\n

Boston even conceded that it denied Shurtleff\u2019s request \u201csolely because the Christian flag he asked to raise promot[ed] a specific religion,\u201d Breyer wrote.<\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cUnder our precedents, and in view of our government-speech holding here, that refusal discriminated based on religious viewpoint and violated the Free Speech Clause.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Supreme Court concluded that \u201con balance, Boston did not make the raising and flying of private groups\u2019 flags a form of government speech. That means, in turn, that Boston\u2019s refusal to let Shurtleff and Camp Constitution raise their flag based on its religious viewpoint \u2018abridg[ed]\u2019 their \u2018freedom of speech,\u2019\u201d Breyer wrote, quoting the First Amendment.<\/strong><\/p>\n

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Supreme Court Associate Justice Stephen Breyer holds up a copy of the U.S. Constitution as he announces his retirement in the Roosevelt Room of the White House on Jan. 27, 2022. (Andrew Harnik\/AP Photo)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":2726,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pmpro_default_level":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[19,41,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2723","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-hated-for-his-names-sake","category-iniquity-abounding","category-uncategorized","pmpro-has-access"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.inthedays.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2723","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.inthedays.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.inthedays.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.inthedays.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.inthedays.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2723"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/www.inthedays.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2723\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2735,"href":"https:\/\/www.inthedays.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2723\/revisions\/2735"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.inthedays.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/2726"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.inthedays.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2723"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.inthedays.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2723"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.inthedays.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2723"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}